Shelley Dufresne, the former Destrehan High School teacher who previously admitted to having sex with one of her students, appeared in Jefferson Parish court Tuesday for the first day of her trial on two charges of carnal knowledge.

Dufresne, 34, waived her right to a jury trial, instead opting for a bench trial before Judge Danyelle Taylor. Most of the day was focused on the victim in this case.

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The victim's testimony and cross-examination spanned hours. The entire time, he maintained he had sex with his teacher in Jefferson Parish -- both at another teacher’s home in Kenner and in the parking lot of a daiquiri shop in Kenner.

The locations are important points, because the defense said in their opening statement that the two only had sex in St. Charles Parish, where Dufrene took a plea deal to avoid jail time, last year.

Opening Statements:

Rachel Africk, a prosecutor with the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s office, said in her opening statement that authorities in St. Charles Parish became aware that the teacher and student were involved in a sexual relationship after the victim allegedly bragged to classmates about the encounter in September 2014. Africk said the victim showed friends, fellow football players and other students a video he took in August, which showed his genitals in the face of another teacher, Rachel Respess, who the attorney said was passed out after a night of drinking and sex with Dufresne and the victim.

Respess is accused of failing to report a felony and will be tried separately.

Africk said Dufresne and the victim had sex numerous times in both St. Charles Parish, where she lived and the student attended high school, and in Jefferson Parish, first having intercourse in a parking lot behind a Kenner daiquiri shop.

Dufresne’s defense attorney, Kim McElwee, used her opening statement to argue against the sex offender registration required by a carnal knowledge of a juvenile conviction.

McElwee, who is a former prosecutor for the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s office and most recently with the St. Charles Parish District Attorney's officer told the judge, “This is my first criminal defense trial.” She said she spent her career building child-abuse cases and prosecuting them. McElwee came out of retirement to represent Dufresne.

She said Dufresne doesn’t meet that description, citing the consensual sex between the teacher and student.

The attorney attacked the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s office and Kenner PD for a lack of a thorough investigation, calling their work in the case “abysmal.”

“Kenner police aren’t even here (in court),” McElwee said. “There are two crimes that the Jefferson Parish DA’s office wants to punish this woman for the rest of her life.” She went on to say Dufresne will not be able to take her kids to school, pick them up, go to her little girl’s dance recitals if she has to register as a sex offender.

McElwee then implied that the victim’s father may have known about and condoned his son’s relationship with teacher, before turning her attention to the victim in this case.

McElwee said the victim should face felony charges for at least four crimes committed when he was a juvenile. She said evidence shows he lied to police about the video with Respess, obstructed justice by deleting the video and texts, committed sexual battery when taking the video and threatened Dufresne with exposing their relationship when the teacher said she was going to move him into another class.

She also rejected the victim’s statement to police that he and Dufresne had three-way sex with Respess. McElwee said the victim had troubles in Respess’s class the year before and hated the teacher. She argued the victim did not have sex with both teachers that night.

The attorney said what Dufresne did was wrong, but her actions did not warrant two carnal knowledge of a juvenile charges.

The prosecution’s case:

The prosecutor’s first witness was the lead investigator in the St. Charles Parish case, Lieutenant Clint Patterson. Patterson testified that the victim took him on a tour of more than 30 locations in St. Charles parish where condoms and/or condom wrappers were said to be discarded by the victim. The witness said those condoms were never tested by St. Charles Parish because Dufresne pleaded guilty to the charges in that parish before the tests were ordered.

Patterson also testified about explicit Facebook messages sent between the teacher and student. The prosecution said Dufresne created a private Facebook account under the name, “Madison Mexicano,” which included a post stating “I love Mexican boys,” referring to the victim, who is not Mexican, but said he is half-Colombian.

In messages sent from the page, Patterson testified that Dufresne and the student detailed their first sexual encounter, which he said happened Aug. 22, 2014 in Kenner. Patterson also said Dufresne sent a picture of herself to the victim from that Facebook account.

Defense attorney Jim Williams cross examined Patterson. Williams asked a series of questions about the location and date of the first time Durfresne had sex with the victim. He also disputed the location of the daiquiri shop in Kenner where the investigator testified that initial encounter happened. Williams showed Patterson pictures of another daiquiri shop in Boutte where the defense alleged they had sex. Patterson said the shopping strips looked similar, but the Boutte location was not near a Home Depot, which he said the victim specifically mentioned during his police interview.

Williams also asked the investigator why the victim wasn’t charged with a crime for recording video of him putting his genitals in the face of Respess when she was unconscious. Patterson said in the initial interview with the victim “It (the video) never came up.”

The state called David Walker, an AT&T employee who is the custodian of phone records, as their second witness. Walker testified that phone records show calls between Dufresne and the victim lasting several minutes, as well as the time, date and number of text messages. The content of the messages were not part of the AT&T record.

St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s detective Bradley Walsh, who worked in the internet crimes division in 2014, was called as the prosecutor’s third witness. Walsh reviewed information contained in the cellphones of Respess, Dufresne and the victim.

Prosecutor Seth Shute asked Walsh about deleted text messages that had been recovered from the phones, including why some pictures and videos that were deleted could not be recovered.

The victim, now 19, took the stand as the prosecution’s fourth witness. He said Dufresne was his English teacher during his junior year and pointed her out in the courtroom. He said Dufresne first reached out to him on Facebook and the two then begin flirting after class.

When the two were alone in her classroom, the victim said Dufresne stopped him from leaving and asked, “Can you give me something?” “Like what,” He responded. “I don’t know, just a kiss or something,” she said. The victim testified that was the first time the two kissed and they had intercourse later that night. He was 16 at the time; Dufresne was 31. During the testimony, the victim’s mother wiped tears from her face and shook her head.

The victim testified that he and his teacher had sex at multiple locations over several weeks. He also said he, Dufresne and Respess had sex together at Respess’s Kenner apartment. He admitted to taking a video of Respess later that night in which he put his genitals in her face. During the testimony, defense attorneys objected, telling the judge he should have his rights read to him because he is admitting to a sexual battery. After both attorneys talked to the judge, the testimony resumed, without any reading of rights.

During cross examination, McElwee pressed the victim on specifics, calling to question his memory about dates and locations. She also asked about a civil suit she said the victim and his family has filed against Respess, Dufresne and the St. Charles Parish School Board for $1 million. She also asked the victim if he knew what perjury meant, later saying “If that’s your version of telling the truth.”

Following hours on the stand, the victim was excused. The prosecution called one of the victim’s friends and fellow former Destrehan High School football player to the stand. The prosecution rested their case around 6 p.m. The trial resumes with the defense’s case at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday.

St. Charles Parish plea deal:

In 2015, Dufresne pleaded guilty to obscenity, admitting that she engaged in a sexual relationship with the 16-year-old boy, who was a Destrehan High School student in 11th grade. The acts are said to have taken place at Respess’s apartment, a Kenner parking lot and multiple other locations in St. Charles Parish. Prosecutors said the two first had sex on or around Aug. 22, 2014 in the parking lot of a Jefferson Parish daiquiri shop. The defense attorney argued that initial sex act took place in St. Charles Parish, where Dufresne pleaded guilty to obscenity charges in 2015.

Dufresne avoided a three-year prison sentence with her St. Charles Parish plea, but was required to undergo a 90-day inpatient mental health treatment in lieu of a 90-day parish prison sentence.

The victim’s parents were in court for the 2015 hearing and expressed their approval of the resolution in the case, but others questioned the influence of Dufresne’s family in that case.

As part of the plea agreement, Dufresne surrendered her teaching license and cannot have any contact with the victim or his family.

Dufresne could still face carnal knowledge of a juvenile charge in St. Charles Parish if the conditions of her probation are not met.

The carnal knowledge of a juvenile charge is still being held open until she completes the terms of her probation on the obscenity charge. Afterward, prosecutors will dismiss the carnal knowledge charge, according to the plea deal.